Many construction projects include providing coated metallic elements in locations of varying levels of corrosivity, such as in aggressive and/or non-aggressive soils for corrosion. Metallic elements may be disposed in soils that may cause corrosion over relatively long periods of time, or in soils that may cause corrosion in relatively shorter periods of time such as areas exposed to chemical deicing, tidal water, or ground water. Use of coated metallic elements in either aggressive or non-aggressive soils often results in increased degradation of the coating and base metal of the coated metallic elements over time. Such degradation may result in a reduction of a service life of a structure.
Conventional methods for protecting metallic elements in the above situations typically involve providing metallic elements including steel strips or wires that are galvanized or aluminized. For galvanized coatings, steel strips or wires are typically configured into a final geometry, then hot-dip galvanized in a bath of zinc. For aluminum coatings, a sheet of steel coil is typically dipped in a bath of pure aluminum, and then the steel coil is slit and the steel strips are configured into a final geometry.
One disadvantage of these conventional systems involves the additional metal needed beyond an amount appropriate for strength and serviceability design to account for corrosion of metallic reinforcements within an area subject to corrosion (e.g., within an earth mass as in mechanically stabilized earth applications). For example, typical design specifications for highway infrastructure set forth that a design should account for 75 or 100 years of corrosion, which typically results in an increase in supplied metal thickness of metallic elements of approximately 50% to 100% more than a nominal amount appropriate for strength and serviceability design.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,927,112 (the '112 patent), issued to McKittrick, describes a protective coating for use in a mechanical connection of a mechanically stabilized earth structure. The method disclosed in the '112 patent includes applying a dielectric barrier coating on a structurally compromised region of a tensile member to delay an onset of corrosion.
Although the system disclosed in the '112 patent may provide a method for delaying an onset of corrosion, the system does not provide a method for accounting for corrosion of a coated metallic element over substantially an entire service life of a structure. Further, the system disclosed in the '112 patent does not appear to provide a method for providing relatively thinner metallic elements that account for corrosion over a service life without having increased thicknesses to account for corrosion.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the shortcomings set forth above.